Combustion Apparatus for Operation With a Liquid Fuel

ABSTRACT

A combustion apparatus for operation with a fuel which is liquid at room temperature, in particular with a vegetable oil, wherein the combustion apparatus includes an evaporator device for evaporating the liquid fuel and a nozzle for ejection and for flame ignition of the evaporated fuel. The evaporator device is disposed in fluid communication with a fuel tray for preheating the evaporator device for a start of operation.

The present invention relates to a combustion apparatus for operationwith a fuel that is liquid at room temperature as claimed in thepreamble of claim 1.

The publication DE 101 61 154 A1 proposes a burner for a cooker that isoperated with liquid fuel. Said burner can preferably be operated with avegetable oil. To produce a flame, the liquid fuel is introduced into acontainer of the burner. Pressure is used to pump the fuel by way of asupply tube from the inside of the container to an oil inlet opening ofan evaporator. There the liquid fuel changes to its gaseous phase. Thefuel gas heated by way of the evaporator flows out of a nozzle of theevaporator as a stream of fuel and is ignited. The resulting flamecauses heat to be transferred to a vessel held over it. In order tooperate the burner with vegetable oil as the fuel, it is necessarybeforehand to heat the vegetable oil to a temperature at which ischanges to the gaseous state and can therefore be easily ignited. Beforea combustion process it is therefore necessary to heat the evaporator ofthe burner to the corresponding temperature. The publication DE 101 61154 A1 proposes an open flame below the evaporator for this purpose.

The object of the present invention is to find a simple and safe way ofpreheating an evaporator system that can be operated with a liquid fuel.

The object is achieved by a combustion apparatus with the features ofclaim 1. Developments of the combustion apparatuses are set out in thesubclaims.

The fuel tray serves to hold and burn a material that can be easilyignited, it being possible for the fuel tray to have an opening at itsbase and it being possible to attach an evaporator system in/at theopening to evaporate a fuel that is liquid at room temperature and tosupply fuel to the evaporator system through the opening. In particularthe evaporator can be configured to evaporate a vegetable oil.

The inventive vessel system ensures adequate preheating of theevaporator within 30 seconds for example. The fact that the fuel tray isfirmly secured to the evaporator means that there is no risk of the fueltray tipping over with the open flame. The invention also allows thefuel tray with the flame to be attached in a simple manner to theevaporator so that the evaporator is heated evenly. The fuel tray canoptimally have a central through opening for the evaporator tube.

The fuel tray and evaporator system can be configured in one piece. Thefuel tray can also have a heat-insulating coating. This prevents burninginjuries if the heated fuel tray is touched.

The fuel tray can also have a discharge component to drain the easilyignitable material. This is advantageous, if the user has alreadyintroduced the easily ignitable material into the fuel tray but thendoes not want to start the combustion process. Likewise oil residuesfrom the fuel tray can be caught in the fuel tray when the evaporator isdisassembled and then be drained off by way of the discharge component.

The combustion apparatus can also have a tripod as the burner base.

The burner base can also have a protective cylinder to protect athreaded coupling below the fuel tray from contamination. In thisinstance the fuel tray can rest on the protective cylinder, therebyincreasing its stability.

It shall preferably be possible to attach a pot holder to the burnerbase or configure it in one piece with the burner base. This allowssimple and safe use of a pot during the cooking process.

A supply system can advantageously be arranged in a hollow space in theburner base to supply fuel from a container system to an evaporationsystem. This is ensured for example by a supply line space for the oilsupply line to the evaporator tube inside the burner base. This reducesthe risk of damage to the oil supply line due to the heat resultingduring operation of the burner. Similarly the burner base can have anoperating system to control the oil supply to the combustion apparatus.

The present invention is described in more detail below with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an evaporator with a fuel tray;

FIG. 2 shows a threaded section for screwing an evaporator with a fueltray onto a burner base; and

FIG. 3 shows a burner base.

The inventive burner in FIG. 1 has an evaporator 1 with an ignition trayor fuel tray 2. The evaporator 1 here is configured in one piece withthe ignition tray 2 from a non-combustible and heat-resistant material.In the example in FIG. 1 the evaporator 1 consists of two tubularsections 3 and 4, configured in the form of a double loop. The tubularsections 3 and 4 pass into each other at their ends. The evaporator 1has a nozzle 5 at this point. The other ends of the tubular sections 3and 4 are connected to a supply tube 6. The evaporator 1 also comprisesa baffle device 7. The tube sections 3, 4 are connected to a connectorpedestal or supply tube 6. The connector pedestal 6 or supply tube 6 isarranged in the center of the ignition tray 2.

The fuel tray 2 is required to start operation of the combustionapparatus or vegetable oil cooker. To start operation of the vegetableoil cooker, a flammable liquid, for example kerosene, petrol, diesel oilor vegetable oil ester is ignited in the ignition tray 2. This preheatsthe supply tube 6 and the two tubular sections 3 and 4 of theevaporator. The liquid vegetable oil in the supply tube 6 and thetubular sections 3, 4 is evaporated and flows in gaseous form out of thenozzle 5. The gas leaving the nozzle 5 is then ignited manually.

To increase the time the gas leaving the nozzle 5 remains above thenozzle 5, a baffle device 7 is provided. This causes the stream of gasto eddy and mix with the ambient air to form a combustible air/gasmixture. The combustion process described here operates continuously.The combustion process only comes to a halt if the vegetable oil supplyis interrupted.

FIG. 2 shows the underside of the evaporator 1 and part of the burnerbase 8. It can be seen that the evaporator 1 has an attachment openingor connector 9 on its underside. A matching threaded section 10 isattached in the center of the burner base 8. By screwing the threadedsection 10 in the attachment opening 9 it is possible to attach theevaporator 1 to the burner base 8. The threaded section 10 has a supplyopening 11, by way of which it is possible to apply pressure tointroduce the vegetable oil into the inside of the supply tube 6 of theevaporator 1.

FIG. 3 shows the complete burner base. It has a tripod 12. The mass ofthe tripod 12 is distributed in such a manner that the burner does nottip over when deflected slightly from its center of gravity. A furtherdevice for improving safety during operation of the burner is a potsupport 13, which is connected to the tripod 12 in one piece. The potsupport allows a pot to be placed over the flame of the burner in asimple manner. The burner base 8 also has an operating knob 14 toactuate a regulating valve. The regulating valve, which is used tocontrol the supply of vegetable oil, is located in an internal hollowspace in the tripod 12 together with an oil supply line.

The burner base 8 also has a protective cylinder 15, which serves toprotect the threaded section 10 from contamination. It is possible toattach the protective cylinder 15 to the tripod 12 by screwing theevaporator 1 and ignition tray 2 tightly onto the threaded section 10.

1-13. (canceled)
 14. A combustion apparatus for operation with a fuelthat is liquid at room temperature, in particular with a vegetable oil,the combustion apparatus comprising an evaporator device for evaporatingthe liquid fuel; a nozzle in fluid communication with the evaporatordevice for expelling and igniting the evaporated fuel; and a fuel trayin fluid communication with the evaporator device for preheating theevaporator device to start operation.
 15. The combustion apparatusaccording to claim 14 wherein the evaporator device is disposed at leastpartially within the fuel tray.
 16. The combustion apparatus accordingto claim 14 wherein the evaporator device is formed with at least oneevaporator tube.
 17. The combustion apparatus according to claim 15wherein the fuel tray extends in at least a partially surroundingrelationship with the evaporator device.
 18. The combustion apparatusaccording to claim 15 wherein the fuel tray includes a base portion andthe evaporator device is attached to the base portion of the fuel tray.19. The combustion apparatus according to claim 15 wherein theevaporator device is disposed generally in the center of the fuel tray.20. The combustion apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the fuel trayis formed with a connector pedestal and the evaporator device isconnected to the connector pedestal.
 21. The combustion apparatusaccording to claim 20 wherein the fuel tray includes a base portion andthe connector pedestal is disposed in the base portion of the fuel tray.22. The combustion apparatus according to claim claims 20 wherein theconnector pedestal includes a connector for connection to a fuel supplyline.
 23. The combustion apparatus according to claim 22 and furthercomprising a protective plate disposed below the fuel tray forprotecting the connector from contamination.
 24. The combustionapparatus according to claim 23 wherein the protective plate is disposedbetween the fuel tray and a burner base.
 25. The combustion apparatusaccording to claim 23 wherein the protective plate is disposed adjacenta substantially closed assembly space below the fuel tray.
 26. Thecombustion apparatus according to claim 25 wherein the connector of theconnector pedestal is disposed within the assembly space below the fueltray.